Insights into the ribosomal trans‐ translation rescue system: lessons from recent structural studies

The understanding of ribosome structure has advanced considerably in the last several years. Biochemists have characterized the constituent proteins and rRNA's of ribosomes. Complete sequences have been determined for some ribosomal proteins and specific antibodies have been prepared against all E. coli small subunit proteins. In addition, a number of naturally occuring systems of three dimensional ribosome crystals which are suitable for structural studies have been observed in eukaryotes. Although the crystals are, in general, too small for X-ray diffraction, their size is ideal for electron microscopy.

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Structural Studies on Mitotic Spindle Fibres

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100070345 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 36 (3) ◽

pp. 615-626

Author(s):

J.R. Mcintosh

Keyword(s):

Chemical Composition ◽

Mitotic Spindle ◽

Structural Studies ◽

Mitotic Apparatus ◽

Chemical Studies ◽

Medical Interest ◽

Spindle Fibres

The mitotic apparatus is a structure of obvious biological and medical interest, but it has proved to be a difficult cellular machine to understand. The chemical composition of the spindle is only slightly elucidated, largely because of the difficulties in preparing useful isolates of the structure. Chemical studies of the mitotic spindle have been reviewed elsewhere (Mcintosh, 1977), and will not be discussed further here. One would think that structural studies on the mitotic apparatus (MA) in situ would be straightforward, but even with this approach there is some disagreement in the results obtained with various methods and by different investigators. In this paper I will review briefly the approaches which have been used in structural studies of the MA, pointing out the strengths and problems of each approach. I will summarize the principal findings of the different methods, and identify what seem to be fruitful avenues for further work.

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Image registration with a computer driven S.T.E.M.

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100107630 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 98-99

Author(s):

A.M.H. Schepman ◽

J.A.P. van der Voort ◽

J.E. Mellema

Keyword(s):

Spot Size ◽

Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope ◽

Small Computer ◽

Structural Studies ◽

Area Of Interest ◽

Transmission Electron ◽

Scanning Transmission ◽

Specimen Area ◽

On Line ◽

Minimum Distances

A Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM) was coupled to a small computer. The system (see Fig. 1) has been built using a Philips EM400, equipped with a scanning attachment and a DEC PDP11/34 computer with 34K memory. The gun (Fig. 2) consists of a continuously renewed tip of radius 0.2 to 0.4 μm of a tungsten wire heated just below its melting point by a focussed laser beam (1). On-line operation procedures were developped aiming at the reduction of the amount of radiation of the specimen area of interest, while selecting the various imaging parameters and upon registration of the information content. Whereas the theoretical limiting spot size is 0.75 nm (2), routine resolution checks showed minimum distances in the order 1.2 to 1.5 nm between corresponding intensity maxima in successive scans. This value is sufficient for structural studies of regular biological material to test the performance of STEM over high resolution CTEM.

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The Fine Structure of Phloem Cells

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100119867 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 43 ◽

pp. 632-635

Author(s):

James Cronshaw

Keyword(s):

Structural Studies ◽

High Concentration ◽

Long Distance ◽

Phloem Tissue ◽

Sieve Elements ◽

Long Distance Transport ◽

P Protein ◽

Companion Cells ◽

Electron Microscopical ◽

Distance Transport

Long distance transport in plants takes place in phloem tissue which has characteristic cells, the sieve elements. At maturity these cells have sieve areas in their end walls with specialized perforations. They are associated with companion cells, parenchyma cells, and in some species, with transfer cells. The protoplast of the functioning sieve element contains a high concentration of sugar, and consequently a high hydrostatic pressure, which makes it extremely difficult to fix mature sieve elements for electron microscopical observation without the formation of surge artifacts. Despite many structural studies which have attempted to prevent surge artifacts, several features of mature sieve elements, such as the distribution of P-protein and the nature of the contents of the sieve area pores, remain controversial.

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An ultrastructural study on the shark liver

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s042482010016011x ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 48 (3) ◽

pp. 512-513

Author(s):

Masako Yamada ◽

Yutaka Tanuma

Keyword(s):

Portal Vein ◽

Kupffer Cells ◽

Ultrastructural Study ◽

Lipid Droplets ◽

Microscopic Level ◽

The Other ◽

Fish Stock ◽

Structural Studies ◽

Light Microscopic Level ◽

Perfusion Fixation

Although many fine structural studies on the vertebrate liver have been reported on mammals, avians, reptiles, amphibians, teleosts and cyclostomes, there are no studies on elasmobranchii liver except one by T. Ito etal. (1962) who studied it on light microscopic level. The purpose of the present study was to as certain the ultrastructural details and cytochemical characteristics of normal elasmobranchii liver and was to compare with the other higher vertebrate ones.Seventeen Scyliorhinus torazame, one kind of elasmobranchii, were obtained from the fish stock of the Ueno Zoo aquarium, Ueno, Tokyo. The sharks weighing about 300-600g were anesthetized with MS-222 (Sigma), and the livers were fixed by perfusion fixation via the portal vein according to the procedure of Y. Saito et al. (1980) for 10 min. Then the liver tissues were immersed in the same fixative for 2 hours and postfixed with 1% OsO4-solution in 0.1 Mc acodylate buffer for one hour. In order to make sure a phagocytic activity of Kupffer cells, latex particles (0.8 μm in diameter, 0.05mg/100 g b.w.) were injected through the portal vein for one min before fixation. For preservation of lipid droplets in the cytoplasm, a series of these procedure were performed under ice cold temperature until the end of dehydration.

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Structural studies of small amorphous volumes by electron diffraction

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100173741 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 48 (4) ◽

pp. 122-123

Author(s):

Pierre Moine

Keyword(s):

Electron Diffraction ◽

Born Approximation ◽

Structural Information ◽

Fundamental Relation ◽

X Rays ◽

Structural Studies ◽

Diffraction Experiment ◽

Transmission Electron ◽

Amorphous Structures ◽

Diffraction Patterns

Qualitatively, amorphous structures can be easily revealed and differentiated from crystalline phases by their Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) images and their diffraction patterns (fig.1 and 2) but, for quantitative structural information, electron diffraction pattern intensity analyses are necessary. The parameters describing the structure of an amorphous specimen have been introduced in the context of scattering experiments which have been, so far, the most used techniques to obtain structural information in the form of statistical averages. When only small amorphous volumes (< 1/μm in size or thickness) are available, the much higher scattering of electrons (compared to neutrons or x rays) makes, despite its drawbacks, electron diffraction extremely valuable and often the only feasible technique.In a diffraction experiment, the intensity IN (Q) of a radiation, elastically scattered by N atoms of a sample, is measured and related to the atomic structure, using the fundamental relation (Born approximation) : IN(Q) = |FT[U(r)]|.

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Three-Dimensional Structure of Rotavirus-Fab Complex

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100179944 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 48 (1) ◽

pp. 238-239

Author(s):

B.V.V. Prasad ◽

E. Marietta ◽

J.W. Burns ◽

M.K. Estes ◽

W. Chiu

Keyword(s):

Image Processing ◽

Smooth Surface ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Outer Shell ◽

Dimensional Structure ◽

Structural Studies ◽

Cell Penetration ◽

Electron Cryomicroscopy ◽

Image Processing Techniques ◽

Processing Techniques

Rotaviruses are spherical, double-shelled particles. They have been identified as a major cause of infantile gastroenteritis worldwide. In our earlier studies we determined the three-dimensional structures of double-and single-shelled simian rotavirus embedded in vitreous ice using electron cryomicroscopy and image processing techniques to a resolution of 40Å. A distinctive feature of the rotavirus structure is the presence of 132 large channels spanning across both the shells at all 5- and 6-coordinated positions of a T=13ℓ icosahedral lattice. The outer shell has 60 spikes emanating from its relatively smooth surface. The inner shell, in contrast, exhibits a bristly surface made of 260 morphological units at all local and strict 3-fold axes (Fig.l).The outer shell of rotavirus is made up of two proteins, VP4 and VP7. VP7, a glycoprotein and a neutralization antigen, is the major component. VP4 has been implicated in several important functions such as cell penetration, hemagglutination, neutralization and virulence. From our earlier studies we had proposed that the spikes correspond to VP4 and the rest of the surface is composed of VP7. Our recent structural studies, using the same techniques, with monoclonal antibodies specific to VP4 have established that surface spikes are made up of VP4.

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